About the Qualified Teams
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ABOUT THE QUALIFIED TEAMS ABOUT THE QUALIFIED TEAMS The goal of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE is to inspire a new generation of viable, safe, and super fuel‐efficient vehicles. $10 million in prizes will be awarded to the teams that win a rigorous stage competition for clean, production‐capable and super fuel efficient vehicles that exceed 100 MPGe (100 Miles per Gallon or Energy Equivalent). Established automakers, start‐ups, universities, inventors, and even a high school are among the diverse groups of teams representing 14 U.S. states and nine countries. These teams are now one step closer to their share of the $10 million prize purse, to be awarded this September to those that survive the rigorous multi‐stage competition. Here are their stories: American HyPower (Centennial, C0) Founder/Team Leader: Mills Snowden/KV Cahill Vehicle Name: ZAMS Fuel Type: Gasoline and Hydrogen Class: Mainstream American HyPower’s journey began when Team Leader Mills Snowden decided that he was going to do something to change the world. Frustrated with the current energy situation, he reached out to a colleague in the nuclear design world, laid out his idea and got to work. Mills is a serial entrepreneur with a background in Internet start‐ups and risk management in the oil and gas industry. He is also a firm believer in incentivizing to create dynamic change. “When you look at the automotive industry, you see corporations where people advance to the executive suites and then firmly close the door behind them,” says Mills. “Those select few at the top, ultimately, keep innovators out. They’re comfortable with the status quo. If you give people the incentive to innovate and give them the opportunity to contribute something, they will. You just have to allow it.” The American HyPower team started with just four people in late 2008 and has now grown to nine. Team members span the globe and include automotive, racing and aerospace industry personnel, as well as members versed in international business, marketing, manufacturing, sales and design. What began as a business challenge took on deeper meaning when the team decided to compete in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE in December of 2008. “It wasn’t about signing up to win a bunch of money,” began Mills. “We decided to participate because X PRIZE is an organization that is truly trying to shift paradigms on a global basis from both a competitive and a fiscal standpoint. The whole concept really rang with us.” Mills calls himself a true capitalist and readily dismisses the idea of building their business on a media image, a path that he believes other automotive start‐ups have chosen. “This is going to sound harsh, but I could care less about the environment,” says Mills. “Don’t get me wrong, I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I love the outdoors, and I want clean air and good drinking water, but using the environment to sell a product is only focusing on a symptom, it’s not the real problem. I want to deal with real, identifiable problems. From the standpoint of being a capitalist, I believe we can deal with those problems and make money.” The American HyPower team has already driven their vehicle across the U.S. twice, stopping to talk to the public along the way. Mills’ encounters during these trips solidified his belief that the only way to make consumers change their habits is to incentivize them to do so. This means bringing the conversation about revolutionizing transportation down‐to‐earth, to the gas station and into consumers’ pockets. amp Motor Works (Cincinnati, OH) Founder/Team Leader: Steve Burns Vehicle Name: amp Fuel Type: Electric (BEV) Class: Alternative Building an electric car has always been a dream of Steve Burns’. An accomplished inventor, Burns’ previous companies have produced such technologies as MobileVoiceControl ‐ the primary voice recognition software for the Blackberry and PocketScript‐ the first handheld e‐prescribing option for physicians at point‐of‐care. But a few years ago, he decided to set his sights on making his lifelong dream come true, and partnered with self‐described ‘computer geek’ Mick Kowitz to design a computer that would make the car ‘go’. The partners, along with a handful of others, have been dedicating themselves to developing the vehicles for the past 2‐3 years. They’re working off a GM Saturn Sky platform, replacing the current engine and battery with a new digital system to achieve better mileage. They’ve started to officially take orders, and have started to build them in the way that Burns knows best‐ on their own. APET‐X (Hong Kong & Taiwan) Team Lead: Andrew Huang Vehicle Name: Salamander Fuel Type: Battery Electric Class: Mainstream APET ‐ Advanced Power and Energy Transportation is a Hong Kong based company whose mission is to integrate the most applicable technologies into producing the most efficient, economically viable, habitable, and drivable electric vehicles. Team APET‐X is the only team from Asia participating in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Mainstream division. Its vehicle entry is named Salamander. The Salamander design adopts an open source to allow all types of power modules, components, chassis,and production planning, to rapidly replicate in hopes of solving the accelerated pollution problems resulting from existing vehicles. Salamander's CANBUS is written in LINUX for all future components to be associated freely, without any restrictions and high entry price, for mass production capability. The openness and versatility of Salamander's platform allows consumers to "vote" with their purchasing power and show their support to the green energy movement. The more people that accept this technology, the quicker a halt can be put to the irreversible process of global warming. APET is taking the approach and direction of sharing this method of integration, with existing car manufacturers, or any individuals or entities that possess the resources to carry forward the production plan of Project Salamander. Aptera (Playa, CA) Founder: Steve Fambro Vehicle Name: 2e Fuel Type: Electric (BEV) Class: Alternative In 2000, Steve Fambro, the founder of Aptera, started taking flying lessons, with a dream of building his own plane when he got his license. However, his wife convinced him to practice his composite skills on something less risky – like a car or a kit car before building a plane. The suggestion clearly sparked an idea in Steve, who soon after began to think about the many ways that an electric vehicle could benefit his daily commute. In 2004, Steve saw the launch of SpaceShip One, which won the $10M Ansari X PRIZE. Steve figured if a space shuttle could launch in front of his eyes, then surely he could prototype his envisioned vehicle, receive funding and do everything for less than $5 million with a team of five to ten people. Then, Hurricane Katrina hit. Gasoline went from $2‐$3 per gallon to $4‐$5 per gallon overnight, which ultimately exposed our nation’s addiction to oil and the precarious, vulnerable position in which it placed all of us. Steve resigned from his full time job in 2006 to begin building Aptera. Then a call from Bill Gross, founder of Idealab, changed everything. Gross saw the vision of Aptera. He knew that creating a vehicle that uses 10 times less energy than the average car is not only a disruptive technology, but also the only way to have a measurable effect on lowering our dependence on foreign oil. Aptera is now recognized as one of the fastest growing alternative energy companies in the United States. It is with this same level of passion and determination that Steve believes Aptera will be in the winning circle at the end of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE competition. BITW Technologies (Palmyra, IN) Team Leader: George M. Voll Vehicle Name: Vincitore’ 1000 Fuel Type: Bio‐Diesel Class: Mainstream The BITW team has a straight‐forward approach to solving the complicated issue of improved fuel economy – ‘keep it simple’. Their entry into the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE competition is a Chevy Metro conversion vehicle. It is also the only non‐hybrid diesel entry. Team leads, Dan Boyd and George Voll, have known each other since they attended high school in Indiana, a state with deep roots in automotive manufacturing and racing. It is these Midwestern roots that the team adheres to – both Dan and George are balancing full‐time jobs and families, while in their spare time trying to produce a 100 MPGe car. In fact, three generations of their families have lent their talent to BITW’s Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE project. This self‐funded team’s journey began seven years ago when George started a high MPG bio‐diesel project car, while recuperating from a near‐fatal car crash. Inspired by the announcement of the Automotive X PRIZE competition, George called upon his long‐time friend Dan to work with him to take this idea to the next level. Their build philosophy comes from a college lesson about failure analysis that George recalls. “The more complex you make a component, the higher the probability of failure,” he says. “We wanted to keep our entry as simple as possible, therefore the maintenance requirements would be kept to a minimum.” It is this same reasoning that caused them to choose an internal combustion engine running on diesel fuel. “It’s the simplest solution. You don’t have to maintain it as much, and you don’t have the added weight with the batteries and electric motors. By not reinventing the wheel and choosing as our platform a conservative vehicle that can be easily maintained by most mechanics, we created a garage and consumer friendly car.” Cornell University (Ithaca, New York) Team Leader: Matthew Robison, Operations Research and Information Engineering Vehicle Name: Redshift Fuel Type: Diesel Class: Mainstream Initially the brainchild of a Fellows student, Phillip Bell, the Cornell 100+ MPG Team has faced an annual transition in management as team leaders graduate from the university.